Almond Flour, Grape Seed Oil, Agave Nectar, Chia Seeds and Alternative Sweeteners can be used instead of traditional ingredients to prepare your favorite holiday recipes.  You can even create a pumpkin protein shake with your favorite protein powder.  Here are a couple that we found utilizing ingredients from your Healthy Kitchen…Enjoy!

Gingerbread Men

5 cups blanched almond flour
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon ginger powder
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
½ teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ cup grape seed oil
½ cup agave nectar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
½ cup molasses
2 eggs
1 teaspoon lemon zest

In a large bowl, combine almond flour, cinnamon, ginger powder, cloves, salt and baking soda.  In a smaller bowl, mix together grape seed oil, agave nectar, vanilla, molasses, eggs and lemon zest. Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients.  Chill dough in freezer for 1-2 hours.

Roll out dough between two pieces of wax paper to ¼ inch thick.  Remove top sheet of wax paper, cut out cookies using a medium gingerbread man cookie cutter and decorate with nuts, sprinkles or frosting of your choice.  Cool and serve.

Pumpkin Protein Shake

6 ice cubes
1/3 cup canned pumpkin puree
2 1/2 cups vanilla-flavored soy milk
2 packets sweetener of Choice (dextrose, Stevia or Xylitol)
Cinnamon (to taste)
Nutmeg (to taste)
1 scoop vanilla protein powder

Add every ingredient into blender. Blend until desired shake consistency. 

Pumpkin Chia Muffins

2 tablespoons ground Chia seeds
1 cup whole grain flour
1/2 cup almond flour
2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 can (15 oz) pumpkin (not pie filling)
2 cage free eggs
1/4 cup almond oil
1 cup pure maple syrup
1 tablespoon vanilla
1/2 chopped pecans (optional)

Mix dry ingredients in one bowl. Mix wet ingredients in a separate bowl. Fold the wet ingredients into the dry. Grease muffin tins and spoon in. Bake for 24-28 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.

Tags: Agave Nectar, Almond Flour, Alternative Sweeteners, Chia Seeds, Dextrose, healthy kitchen, Holiday Recipes, Protein Powder, Pumpkin Protein Shake, stevia, xylitol

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 24th, 2009 at 10:45 am and is filed under Miscellaneous. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.